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Skull Island
]] Skull Island is a fictional island located in the south Pacific Ocean west of Indonesia and the home of King Kong in the original 1933 King Kong, its 1976 and 2005 remakes, and the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island. History ''King Kong'' (1933) ]] Film producer Carl Denham received a strange map marking the location of a mysterious uncharted island located west of Indonesia. Determined to explore the island and shoot his next picture there, Denham assembled a film crew and left for the island from New York on board the Venture. After months of sea travel, the Venture came upon the island, which was shrouded in fog and marked by a gigantic mountain on the center of the island shaped like a human skull. Denham and his crew came ashore on the island and discovered a massive wall surrounding a native village. The crew entered the village and witnessed the natives performing a ritual, preparing to sacrifice a woman to their god, "Kong." The native chief, after seeing Denham's leading lady Ann Darrow, offered to trade several of his tribe's women for her. Denham refused, angering the natives. The crew returned to the Venture, which was anchored off the coast of the island. During the night, a group of natives used canoes to approach the ship and abduct Ann. The natives brought Ann back to their village and tied her onto a pedestal located outside of the wall. Eventually, a gigantic gorilla, the natives' god Kong, emerged from the jungle and grabbed Ann, carrying her off back into the jungle. After learning of Ann's disappearance, Denham and his crew came ashore and followed Kong. Along the way, they encountered a Stegosaurus and were attacked by a Brontosaurus while trying to cross a swamp. Eventually they came to a log spanning a chasm and tried to cross it. Kong noticed and grabbed the log bridge, tossing it into the pit below, along with every member of the search team except for first mate Jack Driscoll and Denham himself. Denham returned to the village to regroup with the members of the Venture crew that stayed behind, while Jack continued his pursuit of Kong. Meanwhile, a Tyrannosaurus rex attempted to eat Ann after Kong had set her down on a tree, prompting Kong to come to her rescue. After a vicious battle, Kong killed the T-Rex by breaking its jaws. Kong brought Ann to his mountain lair, where he was attacked by after defeating the serpent, Kong brought Ann out to a cliff overlooking the island, only to be attacked by a Pteranodon. While Kong was distracted, Jack managed to rescue Ann, and the two of them jumped off the cliff into the water below. Kong followed the two back to the village, tearing down the wall and terrorizing the natives. Using their supply of gas bombs, Denham and his crew were able to knock Kong unconscious. Not willing to leave empty-handed, Denham decided to bring the unconscious Kong back to New York and put him on display. Kong was then loaded onto the Venture and taken to New York. ''Son of Kong After being racked with lawsuits due to the damage caused by King Kong in New York, Carl Denham returned to the ''Venture and sailed around the world with Captain Englehorn. During the voyage, a mutiny was staged on the ship and Denham, Englehorn, the cook Charlie, and a stowaway named Hilda were set adrift on a raft. Eventually, they arrived on Skull Island, where Denham and Hilda encountered the son of Kong, a 12-foot-tall juvenile albino gorilla named Kiko. Deeply regretful of what he did to Kong, Denham decided to stay with the juvenile Kong and aid him whenever they were faced with a threat. After braving attacks by various creatures, Denham earned Kiko's trust, and the young Kong helped Denham and Hilda recover a large diamond necklace in a temple on the island. Shortly afterward, an earthquake struck the island, causing it to begin to sink into the ocean. Englehorn and Charlie managed to get onto a small boat and rescue Hilda, but Denham and Kiko became trapped on a small piece of land. With his leg stuck between rocks, Kiko accepted his fate and held Denham up above the water, sacrificing his life to allow Denham to board the boat and escape alive as all of Skull Island sank into the depths of the ocean. ''King Kong'' (1976) ]] After hearing of a potentially massive hidden oil well located underneath a gigantic fog blanket in the Pacific Ocean west of Indonesia, Petrox Oil Company executive Fred Wilson prepared to lead a surveying expedition to find it. After the expedition's ship, the Petrox Explorer left New York, a stowaway primatologist named Jack Prescott was discovered on board. Wilson was convinced that Prescott was a spy from a rival oil company, but Prescott explained he had stowed away on the ship to see the hidden island that presumably contained the oil well himself. Prescott revealed that throughout history, there had been accounts of ships traveling into that fog blanket and discovering "the beach of the skull," where they reported seeing a gigantic ape-like creature. Prescott explained that he wanted to see just what exactly those explorers had seen. After some convincing, Wilson decided to allow Prescott to stay on the expedition as its official photographer. Along the way, the ship picked up a castaway named Dwan, an aspiring young actress who had been on board a yacht that suddenly exploded. When the ship reached the fog bank, it passed through and found a large island. Believing he had found the "big one," Wilson ordered a landing party to come ashore. Prescott and Dwan accompanied the party and landed on the beach. After traveling inland, the party discovered a gigantic wall. Wilson said the island was uninhabited and the wall must be ancient, but Prescott noted that the wall looked to be constantly maintained, meaning natives must live on the island. The party passed through the wall and found a village filled with natives, who were performing a religious ritual. The natives were upset at being disturbed, claiming they were preparing to offer a human sacrifice to their god, "Kong." However, the witch doctor saw Dwan and believed she would make a superior offering to Kong and offered to buy her from the crew. When they refused, the natives prepared to take her by force, but were scared off by the party's guns. The team returned to the Petrox Explorer, but a group of natives followed them and kidnapped Dwan. Dwan was taken back to the village and adorned with native jewelry and tied to a pedestal outside the wall. The jungle shook as a giant ape, Kong himself, emerged from the jungle and grabbed Dwan before carrying her away. Kong brought Dwan to a clearing and set her down. Believing Kong was going to kill her, Dwan begged for her life, only to eventually realize Kong meant her no harm and was actually infatuated with her. Meanwhile, Prescott and several members of the expedition followed Kong into the interior of the island in an attempt to rescue Dwan. When they reached a fallen log spanning a chasm, they attempted to cross it, only for Kong to appear and throw the log into the chasm below. Only Prescott and another crew member named Boan survived. Prescott told Boan to return to the village, where Wilson had set up a base camp, while he continued his pursuit of Kong. Kong brought Dwan to his lair and prepared to undress her, only to be attacked by a giant boa constrictor. While Kong battled the boa, Prescott rescued Dwan and the two ran back to the village. Kong noticed and quickly tore the snake's jaws, then proceeded to chase after his bride. Once Prescott and Dwan reached the village, Wilson and his men set up a trap behind the wall: a pit filled with chloroform. When Kong reached the wall, he smashed the gate down and entered the village, only to fall into the pit and be knocked unconscious. The natives surrounded their fallen god and bowed. Since the oil deposits found on the island were of such low quality they were essentially worthless, Wilson decided to bring Kong back to New York and use him as an advertising gimmick for Petrox. Kong was loaded into the Petrox Explorer's cargo hold, and the ship set sail for New York. ''King Kong'' (2005) Failing film director Carl Denham, in order to escape prosecution for fraud, assembled a crew to travel to the uncharted Skull Island and film his newest picture. After Denham found his leading lady, Ann Darrow, and tricked playwright Jack Driscoll into boarding the Venture, Denham set sail for the island. After months at sea, the Venture reached Skull Island, an ominous rocky island blanketed in fog and bearing a gigantic mountain in its center in the shape of a human skull. Denham and his crew set foot on the island, only to discover a hostile tribe of natives. The natives, attempted to kidnap Ann so they could sacrifice her to their god, "Kong," attacked Denham's party, killing one of them with a spear. Denham and his crew escaped back to the Venture, but were followed by the natives, who kidnapped Ann and brought her into their village to sacrifice her to Kong. Kong, a giant ape, arrived and grabbed Ann, carrying her off to his mountainous lair. Ann was worried Kong would kill her, but he seemed to be romantically interested in her. Ann used her dancing skills to try and entertain Kong, but when she fell he began to laugh. Kong then repeatedly knocked Ann over with his hand whenever she tried to dance until Ann became angry and yelled at him, causing Kong to storm off. While the Venture crew tried to find Ann, braving a Brontosaurus stampede and other dangers, Ann escaped from Kong's lair and wandered the island, only to come face-to-face with a Foetodon, a giant crocodile. Ann ran from the creature, only for it to be killed by a Vastatosaurus rex. The V-Rex saw Ann and chased after her, eventually leading her to a second V-Rex. Kong arrived in time to save Ann from the V-Rexes, only to be attacked by them both along with a third V-Rex. Kong defeated one, but he and the remaining two fell off a cliff and became entangled in vines. As Ann fell from the vines, Kong grabbed her and the two of them fell to the ground. One V-Rex was trapped, while the other jumped down and resumed its battle with Kong. Without any backup, the V-Rex was overwhelmed and killed when Kong broke its jaws. After being saved by Kong, Ann, out of gratitude for the beast, willingly allowed Kong to take her back to his lair. Most of the Venture crew were sent to their deaths when Kong tossed the log bridge they were crossing into a chasm. There, they were attacked by various gigantic insects, who killed most of the men until Bruce Baxter arrived and rescued them. Jack decided to continue pursuing Kong while Denham and the others returned to the village. Jack reached Kong's lair and managed to grab Ann while Kong was distracted by a flock of Terapusmordax. The two of them jumped off the cliff of Kong's lair and into the water below before returning to the village. Kong pursued them and broke through the village wall, destroying the natives' village in search of Ann. Denham and his crew threw bottles of chloroform at Kong until he fell unconscious. Denham decided to bring Kong back to New York and put him on display, believing it would make him a fortune despite his inability to make a film on the island. Kong was loaded onto the Venture and brought back to New York, where he would be exhibited on Broadway. ''Kong: Skull Island Skull Island is once again the home of King Kong in this reboot to the franchise, which is set in the year 1973 and in the same universe as Legendary Pictures' ''Godzilla. Scenes featuring Skull Island were filmed in Hawaii and Vietnam. The island itself seems to be larger and more open and mountainous than in past versions, and the skeletons of various prehistoric species, including Kong's, litter its terrain. The island is also protected and surrounded by a perpetual storm system. Unlike the other depictions of Skull Islands, this island has an ecosystem similar to that of Africa or California. There are giant Sker Buffaloes, deer, a type of gigantic arachnid called the Mother Longlegs, and others. This island has a less exaggerated and fantasy-like ecosystem, with many species described as a fusion of plant and animal (known as "florafauna"). Under the island, there is an underground space connected to the island surface and inhabited by gigantic reptiles known as Skullcrawlers. Monsters Living on Skull Island In ''King Kong'' (1933) and Son of Kong *King Kong *Stegosaurus *Brontosaurus *Tyrannosaurus rex *Two-Legged Lizard *Cave Serpent *Pteranodon *Kiko *Giant Cave Bear *Styracosaurus *Nothosaurus *Spider Crab (Deleted scene) *Gigantophis (Deleted scene) *Triceratops (Deleted scene) *Arsinoitherium (Deleted scene) In ''King Kong'' (1976) *King Kong *Giant Boa In ''King Kong'' (2005) *King Kong *Foetodon *Vastatosaurus rex *Brontosaurus *Venatosaurus *Scorpiopede *Weta Rex *Terapusmordax *Ligocristus (dead body only) *Ferrucutus *Brutornis (Deleted scene) *Piranhadon (Deleted scene) *Arachno-Claw *Carnictus *Scorpio-pede (Deleted scene) *Deplector In Kong: Skull Island * Kong * Skullcrawlers * Psychovultures * Sker Buffaloes * Mother Longlegs * Spore Mantises * Mire Squids * Triceratops * Death Jackal (comic only) * Sirenjaw (comic only) * Dicrocerus Trivia *Skull Island was in many ways one of the primary inspirations for the monster-filled islands in the Godzilla series, including Letchi Island, Solgell Island, Monsterland, and Monster Island. *In King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes, Kong's home island is called Farou Island and Mondo Island, respectively. *Skull Island is never actually referred to as such in any film except Peter Jackson's 2005 remake and Legendary's 2017 remake. In the [[King Kong (1933 film)|original King Kong]] and Son of Kong, the island is only ever referred to as "Kong's Island," although official supplementary materials for both films do refer to it as "Skull Island." In the 1976 remake, the island is never referred to by any name, but Jack Prescott mentions an explorer's account of the island, which calls it "the beach of the skull." Category:King Kong Category:Locations Category:Islands Category:Skull Island